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Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Cupertino's Billy Hershey (foreground) pulled out a thrilling 1-0 win over Fremont's Jamie Kashitani in dual-match action last week to help the Pioneers to a 44-18 team win over the Firebirds.

It's settled, but not quite

Mat teams battle it out in finals

By Dick Sparrer

Los Gatos may have won the wrestling championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. But it's not over yet--not by a long shot.

The wrestlers of the SCVAL will get together at Palo Alto High School this weekend for the league tournament. It won't have any bearing on the league crown, but don't expect that fact to alter the competitive nature of Saturday's event.

"It will be just a tournament championship, but it will be a matter of pride," said Cupertino coach Jay Lawson, heading into the league finals. "And it should be good because it's going to be so close. Every team is fired up for this tournament."

"There are five teams that could possibly win it," he added. "I'd have to give the edge to Los Gatos--they have a big tournament team."

Big is the key word there. Los Gatos is powerful in the upper weights this winter, with Rohner Segnitz (171 pounds) and Fred Luminoso (189) leading the charge. In fact, the two led the Wildcats to the De Anza Division dual-match championship.

But De Anza powers Monta Vista and Cupertino could also contend for the SCVAL tourney title this weekend, and so could El Camino Division leaders Los Altos and Milpitas. Los Altos won the El Camino crown this season, and Milpitas finished second.

The league junior varsity tournament will be held Friday, with the varsity finals on Saturday at Paly. Wrestling action begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, with the finals set for the afternoon.

Segnitz and Luminoso are favorites for top honors in their weight classes at the league tournament this weekend.

Sophomore Jarrod Rothman (119) of Monta Vista is another title favorite. He'll lead a powerful band of Matadors into the tourney along with Jason Lin (135), Dustin Hempstead (145), Ken Montanez (152) and Daniel Puder (215).

Eric Hawkins (103), Bobby Adams (130) and Billy Hershey (135) are Cupertino wrestlers who Lawson expects to see in the finals this weekend.

Jamie Kashitani (135) and Matt Sabraw (140) will head up Fremont's hopes in the tournament.

The 135-pound division should be hotly contested at the league finals, with Lin, Hershey and Kashitani all battling for tourney gold.

Hershey and Kashitani are coming off of a thrilling match in the Cupertino-Fremont dual match last week. Hershey pulled out an exciting 1-0 victory to help the Pioneers to a 44-18 team win over the Firebirds.

"It was a great match," said Lawson of the bout. "That really helped up a lot."

It didn't just help the Pioneers in the dual match, but it could help them this weekend, too. Kashitani had beaten Hershey by a point early this season in a tournament match, but with the win last week Lawson is hoping to get the nod from this weekend's seeding committee.

"Seeding is crucial," said Lawson, "and now we'll go to the seeding meeting next week hoping to get Billy seeded No. 1."

A second-period escape snapped a scoreless tie and gave Hershey a 1-0 lead over Kashitani last week.

"They wrestled the rest of the period on their feet," said Lawson. "Each one would shoot, but the other would counter with a good move."

Hershey held the top position in the third round and rode out Kashitani for the exciting victory.

It was one of five bouts decided by four points or less in the match.

"There were some great matches," said Lawson. "There were a lot of people there, and there were some real crowd-pleasers."

Cupertino won in eight of the 14 weight classes, pinning in three bouts and also picking up a couple of forfeit wins.

"Our depth helped us win," admitted Lawson.

Hawkins opened with a close 8-4 victory over Kai Garcia at 103 pounds before Anthony Nguyen pinned 37 seconds into the second round at 112.

Fremont's Anthony Baza nailed a tight 8-4 decision over Scott Shaw at 119 pounds, but Cupertino answered with three straight wins.

Yih-Woei Saw pinned 25 seconds into the third round at 125 pounds, and Adams won by forfeit at 130 to give the Pioneers a commanding 22-3 lead in the match.

Hershey claimed his 1-0 win over Kashitani a bout later, but then Fremont came roaring back.

Sabraw pinned 15 seconds into the second round at 140 pounds to get the Firebirds back on the winning track. Fremont's Daniel McCune followed with a 12-5 decision over Ben Wang at 145.

The 'Birds made it three straight with a thrilling win by A.J. Martinez at 152 pounds. Martinez pulled out a 13-11 overtime win over Rob Hayes to cut the Cupertino lead to 25-15 with five divisions remaining.

But 'Tino dominated the rest of the way, winning four of the final five matches to clinch the win.

Dave Steinwedel cruised to a 12-3 victory over Tony Farias at 160 pounds, and Daniel Barczi rolled to an 11-3 win over Leo Saenz at 171.

Fremont's Elton Vallejos claimed a heart-stopping 13-12 win over Gabe Scarpelli at tyhe buzzer, but that would be his team's final win of the night.

A week earlier, Fremont had lost a 33-31 heartbreaker to Santa Clara.

Farias pinned 48 seconds into the first round at 160 pounds for Fremont's quickest win of the night.

Kashitani pulled out a tight 7-6 victory at 140 pounds and Jason Piamonte won 7-6 at 112. Saenz came through with a close 11-0 victory at 171 pounds for Fremont.

Baza pounded his foe for a 12-3 major decision win at 125 pounds, Sabraw won 7-2 at 145 and Garcia won 6-2 at 103. Vallejos won by forfeit at 189.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 11, 1998.
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